Alwaght- Iraqi forces have retaken the Akkas gas field from ISIS terrorists on Thursday, Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi told reporters in Baghdad.
Akkas, which has reserves of 5.6 trillion cubic feet, is operated by Korea Gas Company (KOGAS) and located in western Anbar province near the Syrian border.
Development of Iraq’s Akkas gas field had been delayed after Islamic State seized large territories in Anbar in May 2014. KOGAS halted operations after multiple attacks by terrorists against the company’s sites in the field.
Iraqi oil ministry officials said they plan to send a crew to Akkas to assess damages to the field’s energy facilities.
“We will make a field visit to write a report about the damages and what we need to bring back the field online as soon as possible,” said engineer Mohammed Ibrahim who is a member of an oil ministry team supervising Akkas.
Iraq is planning to contact KOGAS soon to start preparations to resume development works at the field, said Ibrahim.
“Security forces are working to clean Akkas from landmines and booby-traps that might be left by Daesh,” said Colonel Saad Hardan from Anbar police.
Earlier in the day, Nuaman al-Zawbai, commander of the 7th Division of al-Jazeera Operations Command, said government troops were now in control of 85 percent of al-Qa'im town, located nearly 400 kilometers northwest of Baghdad.
Iraqi government troops - backed by Popular Mobilization Forces, PMF, launched the offensive on the al-Qaim region - which also includes the smaller town of Rawa - last Thursday to finish off a punishing campaign that saw it force the ISIS terrorists out of their major urban stronghold Mosul in July.
Under ISIS, the town has been a vital supply route between its forces in Iraq and the oil-rich province of Deir ez-Zor it once dominated over the border in Syria.
While ISIS’ physical caliphate has crumbled, its deviant Saudi-backed Wahhabi ideology is still pervasive throughout ungoverned territories in West Asia, North Africa, West Africa and the Horn of Africa.
